Show helmet and fill petrol in Bihar

Riding a two-wheeler without helmet is a common site in many cities in India. As per government records, more than 70 percent of the fatal road accidents involving two wheelers are due to head injuries.  And most of them die due to non-wearing of helmet. As few state governments made it mandatory to wear headgear, Bihar has just joined the bandwagon to reduce the fatality on city roads. 

In a unique order, the Nitish Kumar government has asked the petrol pump owners to deny petrol to bikers who do not wear helmet. Police in the past had launched a special drive against those not wearing helmet. Ranchi police early this month had also started garlanding such riders.

Petrol pump owners have also been asked to set up CCTV cameras. They have also asked to note down the number of a two-wheeler if its rider is without a helmet and tries to get petrol by force.

But will it make bikers adhere road-safety rule? There are people who carry helmet for academic purpose tied in the helmet lock, to just get away from the preying cops. In Chennai, when the DMK government imposed strictures on the bikers to wear helmet, very many protested and opposition made a statement that the move was to fill the coffers of helmet companies close to ministers. 

Women in particular, have argued that wearing helmet would disturb their hair style, trigger hair fall etc. In Chandigarh, when the rule was first implemented, the government first exempted ‘sardars’ from wearing helmet. Later, after a series of protests from women organisations, the police relaxed rule further for fairer sex.  All these show that the administrations are not able to implement the rule, even if it is beneficial for the people, because the latter’s participation is nill.

The bikers can wear helmet before entering the pumping station and once fill their tank, they can tie the helmet again in the lock and ride away. No one can stop them filling their vehicles’ tank.  If the government wants to implement rules on road safety, it should also come simultaneously from the society. People should overwhelmingly follow traffic rules. Also, those who do not want to follow the rules for trivial reasons should be dealt with seriously. Apart from fines and other regular punishments, the habitual offenders’ license should be cancelled permanently.

SEBI to reform IPO process

Capital markets regulator SEBI said today that it will reform the initial public offer (IPO) process and ensure that disclosure norms are made effective as the Indian financial markets undergo radical reforms to become globally competitive.

“We are looking at every aspect. The basic aim is to curb volatility, particularly on the day of listing,” said Rajeev Agarwal, whole-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) while addressing an ASSOCHAM conference.

“We will follow strict disclosure norms to protect investors’ interests, create enabling environment so that financial firms become global and vigorously enforce corporate governance norms.”

He said the industry should make efforts to channelise more savings into capital markets to fund capital requirements of various sectors. Only 4.6 per cent of national savings are invested in capital markets.

The country needs investments of one trillion dollars to build infrastructure in the next five years. Agarwal said even pension funds can be invested as new products evolve and regulations are harmonised so that GDP growth of nine per cent can be maintained, the industrial body said in a statement.

Meanwhile, CS Mohapatra, director (secondary markets and UTI) at the finance ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs, said the government will remove regulatory overlaps to bring financial stability and take measures to boost corporate bond market.

However, industry leaders must take lead in reducing intermediation costs by introducing new technology and improving human infrastructure. “There is no reason to be pessimistic as India is showing second highest growth rates amid global economic gloom. There is need for next generation of reforms to increase inflows from foreign institutional investors.”

Nanda Kumar, senior vice-president of the National Stock Exchange, said the current global uncertainties pose challenges and opportunities for the Indian financial sector. The industry requires innovation, efficiencies, transparency and safety to bring back investors’ confidence.

RN Dhoot, president elect of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), said watershed structural reforms have taken place in the banking sector during 20 years of pro-active reforms.

“The time has come for consolidated efforts by all stakeholders for inclusive growth,” he said adding financial sector reforms can add significantly to economic growth and also make a significant contribution to the sustainability of this growth.

ASSOCHAM secretary general DS Rawat said the financial system’s ability to efficiently intermediate domestic and foreign capital into productive investment and to provide financial services to a vast majority of households will influence economic as well as social stability.

Rashesh Shah, chairman of ASSOCHAM National Council for Capital Markets, said Indian yearly savings total 500 billion dollars. The India growth story is in tact, he said, but four trends are worrisome. High inflation, rising interest rates, burgeoning fiscal deficit and the currency under pressure have led many to conclude that economic reforms are stuck for the moment.

Others present during the conference were Anil Agarwal, past president of ASSOCHAM, S.C. Agarwal, co-chairperson of ASSOCHAM National Council for Capital Markets, and Manish Kedia, director and head of debt practices at Resurgent India.

Disturbed Neighbours Make Us Disturbed

A weak and troubled neighbor is always hindrance to a country’s progress and peace. India, for instance, has such neighbours facing perennial internal strife. Be it Pakistan, Nepal or Sri Lanka, the problems in these countries have always had its impact on India. We lost a national leader to the internal squabbles of Sri Lanka; we lost a part of Kashmir and few thousands of lives due to Pakistan’s support to militancy in Kashmir; and about Nepal and Bangladesh, the influx of illegal immigrants causing social-economic problems besides posing serious threat to the safety and security of India.

Now, reports emanating from Pakistan suggest that the Islamic nation is moving towards a military coup. Pakistan's government looks dangerously isolated in a fresh confrontation with the country's powerful military that analysts say could, at the very least, end in early elections.

The army erupted in fury on Wednesday over criticism from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani concerning a commission probing the "Memogate" scandal -- the bizarre and highly controversial case of an unsigned memo sent to the US military to seek its help in weakening Pakistan's military.
The memo has pitted the army against President Asif Ali Zardari's weak civilian administration, and the Supreme Court is now tasked with deciding if the government endorsed the note, and if so, if it can remain in power.

Possibly as a last nail in the coffin, the government on Wednesday sacked the defence secretary Naeem Khalid Lodhi -- considered more loyal to the military (head) than to the civil leadership. The move has brought the fore the fear of yet another coup. Pakistan has been under military dictatorships for about half its history since independence in 1947, its civilian leaders thrown out in three coups.

The government has been cornered ever since the ‘mamogate’ surfaced and with Pakistan’s strong military and Supreme Court taking on the government separately, the survival of the Gilani’s civil government seems to be bleak. With political instability in Pakistan, India should be extra cautious as any military coup would make the military more powerful and bring their hands close to the weapons of mass destructions.

Tribal dance to shame!

Suddenly the sleepy and often discarded Indian island has come alive on Indian television channels, albeit for wrong reasons. Looking for meaty and glamorous issues, these TRP-hungry channels happily grabbed it with both hands.

Confused? The hot issue of the day is nothing but the reports published by print media and repeatedly aired and discussed by leading television channels about dancing of half-naked women and children to “entertain” the visiting tourists at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Piqued by the development, the Indian government on Wednesday asked the Andaman and Nicobar administration to explain how it allowed such ‘unsocial’ event to happen?

Terming the incident as "obnoxious and disgusting", tribal affairs minister KP Singh Deo said, "It ... cannot be pardoned. It deserves exemplary punishment.” Another minister cried for strict action against those responsible for the event.

The Guardian has posted on its website footage filmed by a tourist showing half-naked Jarawa women being told to dance for tourists by an off-camera police officer.

The website said the Jarawa tribe has lived in peace in the Andaman Islands for thousands of years but tour companies are now running safaris through their jungle. Wealthy tourists pay police to make the women - usually naked - dance for their amusement.

It’s bizarre to the core. The incident has exposed the local government, which has failed to stop such acts being happening under its nose for quite some time. It’s now that when media has highlighted the issue that everyone creating hue and cry of the incident. For long, these tribal people have been living in acute penury and lack of basic infrastructure, which the government has failed to provide as per the constitutional norms. They have been denied the basic needs and several places in the Islands have, till date, not received the compensation announced for the 2004 tsunami victims and damages.

Probably the acute penury might have forced the locals to agree to the tourists’ bizarre amusement needs. Instead of discussing at length on various platforms these tribal people should be rehabilitated and provided basic needs such as education, employment, food and shelter.

According to a Wikipedia update, Jarawa tribes are one of the adivasi indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands. Their present numbers are estimated at between 250-350 individuals. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood. Along with other indigenous Andamanese peoples, they have inhabited the islands for at least several thousand years.

There is some indication that the Jarawa community regarded the now-extinct Jangil tribe as a parent tribe from which they split centuries or millennia ago, even though the Jarawa outnumbered (and eventually out-survived) the Jangil. The Jangil (also called the Rutland Island Aka Bea) were presumed extinct by 1931.

So, the facts show that the community is on the verge of getting extinct. We already lost one tribal reference from the history and another one is in the offing. Hope for some light for these hapless people after this hullabaloo.